[February 23, 1921]

[1]... I draw your attention to the fact that each of the authors, in setting forth his personal point of view, his individual approach to the question, ultimately proves to be close to the others: the danger exists, its economic assessment—a considerable rise in production costs; the moment of the crisis's onset does not admit of precise determination; the utility of attracting a concessionaire is problematic.

It is characteristic that in the latter point there converge not only people imbued with living sympathy for the new construction, such as I. M. Gubkin, but also people of another political camp, yet knowing the matter and treating it conscientiously and with devotion to it...

[2]... Even if a concessionaire were found who expressed willingness to assume obligations for simultaneous execution of work on oil extraction and on combating flooding, according to what was indicated above, we would be powerless at the moment of concluding the contract to foresee and stipulate in the contract all the necessary conditions for that.

The rational regime of the oil field is inconstant, requires the introduction of continuous corrections. All our knowledge of the condition of the wells, carried over from the pre-revolutionary period (at present we know only one-fourth of the wells), is at the present moment obsolete, insufficient for current work, and not only inadequate for 20-30 years ahead, for which term the concessionaires will wish to conclude a contract...

[3]... Of course one cannot resolve it [the task. Ed.] with the negligible means which the oil fields now possess, but I assert that there is nothing here beyond our capacity...

[4]... The last two constructions are more urgently necessary for us than the struggle against water. A crisis in the oil fields is approaching, but today it does not yet exist, and from the shortage of fuel we are already suffocating now, and there is no hope of improving the situation without the construction of an oil pipeline, which, in turn, cannot be fully utilized without the deparaffinization of Grozny fuel oil.

¹ The report is dated February 10, 1921.